Humanitarian/emergency logistics models: a state of the art overview

The occurrence of a natural disaster is generally characterized not only by the tremendous physical and material damage, but also by the substantial social and economic impact on the affected communities. Over the years, the research community has attempted to investigate the different dimensions of these events so that these incidents may be understood and appropriate procedures that properly assess and deal with these occurrences may be developed. A critical question in this context relates to the regional ability to deal with the disaster and organize responders, communities, and equipment to mitigate the adverse effects that stem from the occurrence of these incidents. Emergency Management and Humanitarian Logistics provide tools and knowledge that assist decision makers in preparing for the occurrence of a catastrophic event while coping with the material and humanitarian response. This paper provides an overview of some of the most relevant modeling efforts discussed in the literature related to this topic. Opportunities for the application of modeling and simulation (M&S) in specific areas of humanitarian logistics and emergency management are presented.